


Mothers' Intuition

by Love_to_Love_Puppies



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: mothers get shit done, space moms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-04 10:07:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11552958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Love_to_Love_Puppies/pseuds/Love_to_Love_Puppies
Summary: When Colleen got the call that Katie was missing—that her last remaining family member had disappeared, also at the Garrison’s hands—that was the final straw. When she arrives at the Garrison to collect Katie’s things, she leaves with two other moms and a mission: steal a spaceship; find their families.Never underestimate how far a mother will go for her kids.





	1. Chapter 1

_Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz_.

_Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz._

Colleen, who sat in the kitchen, looked up from her laptop to the sound of her phone vibrating in the living room.

She stood up from the barstool, muttering about how it was probably another telemarketer or political poll. It was an election year so the campaign calls were frequent. Frankly, she couldn’t be bothered to care about either side. Nevertheless, she had gotten six calls this week alone.

Her heart dropped when she saw the caller ID.

_Galaxy Garrison_

The last call she had received from the Garrison was their condolences that her son and husband had perished on their expedition to Kerberos—as if she hadn’t already seen it all over the news.

Now she had a daughter at the Garrison too.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and answered the phone.

“Hello?” she asked.

“Hello, is there a Colleen Gunderson there?” a female voice asked.

Gunderson. She knew Katie had used her maiden name when she had changed her identity to get into the Garrison, but she hadn’t been referred to as Collen Gunderson in twenty-two years—twenty three in June.

“This is she,” she responded, keeping her voice level. She told herself that this call was probably nothing—well, not nothing, but it could just as easily be that Katie got suspended for snooping somewhere she wasn’t allowed, or that they found out her real identity and she was being kicked out.

But the deep feeling of dread in her heart—or perhaps it was her mother’s intuition—told her differently.

“Ma’am…I’m sorry to inform you that your son Pidge is missing,” she told me.

“Missing?” she said, her voice broke. The phone nearly slipped from her grasp, she somehow manged to catch it before it went crashing to the floor.

“Yes ma’am, I’m so sorry. We don’t know how they got out or where they went but I assure you we are doing everything in our power to find them,” she explained.

The woman on the phone was calm. So calm. Colleen supposed she had the luxury of being calm—she hadn’t just lost her entire family.

“Them?” Colleen asked.

“Yes Ma’am, Pidge’s two teammates Lance McCain and Hunk Garrett are also missing,” the woman replied.

“What exactly is being done to find them?” Colleen demanded. She knew from experience that the Garrison would, at most, send out a search party then close the case as if her daughter and the other two had never been there at all.

“Ma’am we are sending out search parties as we speak,” she said, “Have you heard anything from your son? Any indication about where he might be?”

“No, Pidge hadn’t contacted me,” she answered.

The woman on the other end of the phone sighed, “Unfortunately, neither of the other parents have been contacted by their children either.”

 _‘Almost like they vanished,’_ Colleen thought with a start.

She knew her daughter. They had always been close, and had become even closer since Sam and Matt hadn’t returned.

Katie wouldn’t have run away unless she had a lead on her brother and father, and, if that was the case, she wouldn’t have taken her teammates with her—from what she had mentioned they weren’t particularly close. More importantly, she _would_ have gotten a message to her mother if she could or she would likely have just come home—they lived only nine miles from the Garrison.

“How long have they been gone?” Colleen asked the woman on the phone.

“We found their empty bunks this morning,” she said.

It was late afternoon now. A Garrison morning started at 5am.

“And you waited ten hours before contacting the parents?” she accused.

“We wanted to be absolutely sure they were missing first,” the woman replied. It was a lie. A canned response given to her by someone in higher authority. The truth was that they wanted to cover their asses. They thought they would be able to find the kids and the parents would never have to know that their kids had gone missing because of the Garrison’s negligence.

“Right.” Colleen bit out. She wanted to scream at her. She was so damn tired of the Garrison’s lies. She knew they were covering up the disappearance of her son and husband from what Katie had found, and now they were lying about what had happened to her daughter too.

But, she had a plan—or at least the beginnings part of a plan. And, if she wanted it to work, letting on how much she knew about the Garrison’s secrecy would be a foolish mistake.

“Is there anything I can do? Can I come help look?” she asked, allowing her voice to quiver in the frantic mother sort of way. She was, after all, a frantic mother.

“There’s no need Ma’am, we are doing everything in our power to find them. If our search turns up anything, we will let you know. Please let us know if you hear from Pidge,” she said.

“I will,” she promised and the other end of the line went dead.

She sat down on the couch, shock and grief washing over her. Her whole family was missing.

The Garrison wouldn’t find Katie or those other two boys. She knew it.

“DAMN IT!!” she screeched, swiping everything off of the coffee table. Several books, a tray, and a empty coffee mug crashed to the ground. The ceramic coffee mug shattered on impact.

Her hands were shaking.  

“Okay, okay,” she said to herself attempting to calm down, “You’re _going_ to get them back. You are going to find them.”

They were still alive. She could feel it. Wherever the hell they were, they were all still alive.

Something must have happened last night—sometime between when Katie called her at 9pm and when the guards found their empty beds at 5am—it was just a matter of finding out what.

That’s where her plan came in.

Sometime soon, probably within the next week, she would be called to the Garrison to collect Katie’s things after they gave up on their search—that’s how long they had waited before having her come collect Sam and Matt’s things.

It was insufficient, not even enough to pacify the parents. She remembered having felt so cheated after Sam and Matt’s disappearance; the Garrison had lost them and hadn’t even spent more than a week looking before closing the case—not enough time for a Garrison ship to even _reach_ Kerberos. As if the countless hours that Matt and Sam had spent working for the Garrison had meant nothing.

But the Garrison never cared about the students or the families. It cared about results.

Their lack of concern for Katie would still end up feeling like a slap in the face, but this time it served her well. Collecting Katie’s things would give her an excuse to be on Garrison property, which would give her the opportunity to hack into their system and find out what happened the night Katie disappeared. It would also give her access to Katie’s homemade technology; maybe she could pick up where her daughter left off.

At the moment, that was the extent of her plan, but somehow, she was going to find them.

She looked out the window into their small backyard where Matt and Katie’s old playground was withering into decay after years of neglect. It was a beautiful day, one of the nicest ones they had had so far this spring.

It didn’t seem fair.

When given news that your daughter is gone and your entire family is missing, it should be a miserable, gloomy day. Instead, the sun shined, birds chirped, the world spun, just as it always did.

Colleen sighed and picked up the large pieces of broken ceramic off of the floor and threw them into the trash before sweeping up the rest and righting the books back on the coffee table.

That night was the loneliest she had felt in a while. Katie called her every night without fail—it had been one of Colleen’s conditions for letting her enroll at the Garrison. Part of her hoped that it would start ringing and Katie would be on the other end of the phone telling her she was alright; she knew it wouldn’t.

Nevertheless, she kept the phone tethered to its charger on the nightstand next to her bed with the volume all the way up.

She spent hours staring at that phone in the dark, silently willing it to light up and start ringing.

It never did.

All the while, silent tears streamed down her face, leaving salty streaks and wet spots on her pillow.  Gunther, their two-year old, bull-terrier/lab mix, likely sensing her despair had snuggled up next to her bedside and fallen asleep, his soft snoring her only comfort.

Colleen wouldn’t allow herself to dissolve into hysterics. Not yet.

She _would_ find them. She had to. If she didn’t she’d drive herself mad trying.

It was late in the night before, the emotional exhaustion finally overtook her and she drifted off to a restless sleep, tormented by nightmares of her family members crying out for help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all thanks for reading!!  
> I hope you enjoyed this first chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Be sure to give me some kudos and comments to let me know what you thought.  
> More to come soon!! Since this is my only current published story, I'm hoping to keep it updated pretty frequently.  
> Thanks again for reading, I love y'all!!


	2. Chapter 2

“Mom,” Katie’s voice still rang so clearly in Colleen’s ears. Standing on the landing of the stairs, with her hair cut and wearing an old pair of Matt’s glasses, she and her brother looked almost identical, “I’m enrolling at the Garrison.”

She fidgeted on her feet, afraid of what Colleen would say.

Colleen now wished above all else, that she had said “no.” But she hadn’t. Quite frankly, even if she had said “no” it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. She knew her daughter and her daughter was going whether she liked it or not—Katie had inherited her stubbornness.

“You know, sweetie, I could have helped you cut your hair,” she said and Katie looked at her with surprise.

“You’re not mad?” Katie had asked in surprise.

Colleen sighed, marked the page in her book, and patted the seat on the couch next to her.

“No, I’m not mad,” she said, wrapping her arm around her daughter’s shoulder when she took the open seat, “I want to find out what happened to your dad and brother as badly as you do, and quite frankly this is probably a better solution than having the guards drag you home for trespassing every night.”

Katie laughed.

“What name are you using?” Colleen wondered. Her daughter couldn’t very-well go by Katie Holt; Katie Holt had been banned from the Garrison for life, “So when I get the call that you’ve been suspended, I know what to say,” she teased.

“Pidge Gunderson,” Katie replied, with a grin.

Colleen smiled. Pidge was Matt's nickname for his sister (which had stemmed from her favorite childhood movie, Lady and the Tramp), most of the time, the nickname drove her crazy and she begged her brother not to call her that. Colleen was happy to see her using it for her little espionage mission. And Gunderson was, of course, Colleen’s maiden name.

“Very creative,” Colleen chuckled, then took a deep breath and said, “Okay, if you’re going to do this, I have one condition…”

Katie looked at her expectantly.

“You have to call me every night. I mean it, Katie. And let me know anything you find,” she said with a stern look.

Katie grinned and hugged her mom, “I will, Mom. I promise.”

This conversation must have played through her head a thousand times since she had gotten the call that Katie was missing.

Today—only six days later—she had gotten the call to come collect Katie’s things.

“Ms. Gunderson?” the woman on the phone had asked, by the sound of her voice, Colleen guessed it was the same woman as before.

“Yes?” Colleen answered somewhat groggily, given that it was seven in the morning and the phone call had just woken her up. During the week Colleen worked as a middle school teacher so Saturdays and Sundays were usually her only days to sleep in—not that she had been doing much sleeping at all in the past six days. She propped herself up in a more comfortable position and rubbed her eyes.

“I’m sorry to do this to you, Ma’am, but we’re going to have to ask you to come collect your son’s things from his dorm. Would today work for you? The other parents are arriving at noon,” she said.

“Collect his things? Pidge hasn’t even been missing for a week!” Colleen argued.

“I’m sorry, Ma’am, but we can’t afford to keep search parties on any longer, and the rooms need to be used for new students,” she answered.

Colleen knew the wait-list for the Garrison was a mile long, but the fact that they were prepared to replace these kids so suddenly seemed callous.

“Do they really mean so little to you that you are prepared to replace them so quickly?” she replied, bitterness lacing her voice.

“I’m sorry Ma’am,” she replied and she sounded like she actually was, “I know how upsetting this is, but unfortunately I don’t have any control over the decisions the Garrison makes.”

Colleen knew that.

“Fine. I’ll be there at noon,” Colleen hung up the phone.

She got ready in a daze—too distracted by her own thoughts to really focus. She was still unsure if her plan would _actually_ work. If it didn’t, she wouldn’t have another excuse to go back to the Garrison and she might never be able to find her family or find out what happened to them.

She half-heartedly ate a bowl of cereal, which had already become too mushy for her tastes, while Gunther sat at her feel hoping a cornflake would fall to the ground.

The dog certainly made things more complicated, she couldn’t exactly leave him (nor did she have anyone who could look after him) but dragging him on what could easily be a wild-goose chase for her family wasn’t exactly ideal either. He licked his chops and she tossed him a piece of banana, scratching behind his ears. She knew he missed Sam, and Matt, and Katie too—especially Katie, he was her dog.

“I’ll be back buddy,” she promised him, scratching behind his ears, before walking out the garage door at ten-till noon.

Other than the mesa rock formations in the distance and the cacti that dotted the landscape, the scenery consisted of sand and more sand. The dry 100+ degree heat forced her to roll down her windows instead of turning on the AC to avoid overheating her car’s engine.

The small town they lived in served as the only island in this sea of desert. The next closest city was seventy miles away. All of Colleen’s neighbors were also family members of Garrison employees—not many other people lived there.

As she approached the Garrison property she could see the ten-foot chain-link fence topped with barbed wire that encircled the six-thousand acres of land.

“ID please?” a guard asked when she pulled up to the gate. 

“Oh, Mrs. Holt, what are you doing here?” he asked her, studying her ID. Behind him, on the back wall of the booth, Colleen could clearly make out Katie’s mugshot.

“Collecting my son’s things,” she told him.

“Oh…I thought you collected Matt’s stuff a few weeks ago?” he questioned.

“Not Matt,” she told him, “Pidge.”

“Pidge Gunderson is also your son?” he asked, his eyebrows shooting up skeptically, probably wondering why they had two different last names. Thankfully, Colleen had been preparing her lie all week.

“Technically he’s my sister’s son but I adopted him when he was little. Now the Garrison has lost 2 out of 3 of my children. And my husband,” she sniped pointedly.

She watched the guard swallow nervously under her glare.

“Oh…” he said, swallowing nervously under her glare, “Um…your daughter isn’t with you, is she? I have to ask because she’s banned—”

“No, she’s not here,” she interrupted, a pang of sorrow piercing her heart, but she disguised it well.  

“Right, well…” he cleared his throat and handed her ID back, along with a visitor’s sticker, “Keep this on you at all times. The visitor parking is going to be on your right.”

“Thank you,” was all she said, sticking the visitors pass to the front of her shirt and driving in.

From the outside you wouldn’t know the Garrison was one of the leaders in technological innovation and space expedition—because the exterior hadn’t been updated since it was built in the 1970’s. It consisted mostly of raw concrete structures which blended easily with the dusty surrounding landscape.  To Colleen, it looked more like a prison than a school, because the only windows were in the visitor’s center, and what she assumed were the barracks.

She parked in the parking lot in front of the visitor’s center and walked inside.

The receptionist recognized her instantly.

“Mrs. Holt, what are you doing here?” she asked. There were few people at the Garrison who _didn’t_ know Colleen. Between Matt and Sam disappearing and Katie breaking in 10 times, she had become something of a celebrity.

“I’m here to pick up Pidge’s things,” she said and the receptionist’s face fell—from her reaction Colleen wondered if this was the woman she had talked to on the phone.

“Wait, but…the last name is different,” the girl said.

“Gunderson is my maiden name,” she told her simply.

The girl’s face clearly said, ‘holy shit we’ve lost this woman’s whole family!’ but instead she told me, “Right this way, one of the other parents has already arrived.”

The girl brought Colleen into what seemed like a conference room, like they were planning to show them a powerpoint presentation. Seated in one of the chairs was a large woman with a kind face. She was probably four years older than Colleen, but her age barely showed except for a few stray grays in her long, dark, hair and the smile-induced wrinkles in the corners of her eyes.

“Hi, I’m Nani Garrett. I’m Hunk’s mom,” she said, standing up to shake Colleen’s hand.

“I’m Colleen Holt, Pidge’s mom,” Colleen replied.

“Colleen Holt? As in—”

“Sam’s wife and Matt’s mom? Yeah, that’s me,” Colleen replied.

“Oh, honey,” Nani said, obviously not sure what else to say, “I…I’m so sorry.”

Colleen nodded giving Nani a polite, yet sad, smile. Obviously, Nani could sympathize in-part with what Colleen was going through—she had just lost Hunk, her baby, but the thought of losing her entire family…and so close together…she couldn’t even imagine.

Hunk was the youngest of Nani’s four children, the only boy, and the only child she still had at home. Hunk had agonized over leaving his mother and flying over 3000 miles to live at the Garrison, because that meant leaving her all alone (his father had died six years prior). Eventually, Nani had assured him that she would be fine; that if it was his dream to go to the Garrison, he should do it.

Now she wished she had made him stay.

Like Colleen, Nani suspected something was wrong. Hunk was a rule-follower by nature and Nani knew he hadn’t just _run away._ He wouldn’t do something like that. He also would have made sure to get a message to his mom.

“So we’re just waiting on Lance’s mom?” Colleen asked. The small-talk was emotionally taxing. Their children are _missing_ and they’re standing in a conference room.

“That would be me,” a woman with a thick, Cuban accent announced as she walked into the room. She was stunning. Thick, dark, hair in voluminous curls; perfect body; and a designer purse and outfit, “Hi, I’m Aleja McClain.”

Aleja was the youngest of the three women, only thirty-three. She had had Lance when she was only seventeen. After she found out she was pregnant, her and her boyfriend got married. They divorced two years later when Lance’s father cheated on her. His father remarried and now has two children with his new wife and tries very hard to forget Lance exists. Which is fine because Lance hates him.

Aleja has had many different boyfriends since then, but Lance is really the only person she cares about. Before he disappeared, they communicated almost constantly whether it be by text or Snapchat, and he would call her _at least_ twice a day. Aleja could practically pinpoint the _hour_ he disappeared because that’s when Lance had gone radio silent. When she couldn’t get ahold of him (after forty texts and 20 calls), she called the Garrison, who had told her they would “Look into it.” She called six more times that night, and, while they wouldn’t say he disappeared, she knew that that was what happened. It wasn’t until the next morning she got the ‘official’ call—the same delivery of bad news that Colleen and Nani had received—of course, by that time she was already on the fight from Miami to New Mexico. She had booked it the night before, hoping to join the search party—not that they let her.

“I’m sure he’ll turn up,” was all his father had said when she called to tell him his oldest son was missing.

Aleja insisted that there was no way in _hell_ that Lance had run away. Being a pilot was all he ever talked about. He had fought tooth and nail to be accepted into the Garrison and there was no way he would risk messing that up.

Suddenly, the door on the opposite side of the room opened and the director of the Garrison walked in.

“Ladies, please have a seat,” he said. None of the women moved. He cleared his throat, and straightened his tie, “Well, I would like to start out by saying how very sorry we are that this happened.”

Six eyes narrowed. Six arms crossed.

“We offer our deepest sympathies to you three in this hard time,” he continued. His gaze lingered just a little longer on Colleen—knowing that the Garrison was now responsible for losing three of her family members, “And now if you’ll follow me, I’ll show you to your sons’ rooms.”

The three women exchanged a look as if to say, _“That’s it_? They lose our children and that’s all he’s going to say?”

They knew why, of course. Saying much more would incriminate the Garrison and they were very much in the business of trying not to get sued, however much they may deserve it.

“Excuse me? Is there any chance we could have a look at the security tapes from the night they disappeared?” Nani asked.

The director paused in his stride.

“Unfortunately, that’s classified. I can tell you, however, that all three were out of their beds an hour passed curfew that night,” the director replied.

Classified, huh? Colleen’s hand brushed over the flash drive she had hidden in the side pocket of her purse. It wouldn’t be classified for long, not if she could help it.

The walked through the concrete corridors. Students kept popping their heads out doors and whispering amongst themselves. Colleen remembered the feeling well—it was less than six months since the last time she had been in the exact same position, something she was sure some of these students realized.

“Here is Lance and Hunk’s room,” the director said to Nani and Aleja opening up the door to a very messy room. It looked, to all three women, that the boys had intended to come back to this room. There were clothes scattered everywhere and snacks laid out on the dresser. If they had simply “run away” why would they not have packed their stuff?

“Por dios! What a mess!” Aleja exclaimed.

“And this is Pidge’s room,” he opened the adjacent door, “Please feel free to stay as long as you want, ladies.”

He walked down the hall, leaving them there. The three women exchanged a glance before walking into their respective rooms.

Katie had hacked the Garrison to get a room to herself. Like the boys’ room it was messy, but it had a sense of organized chaos. The clothing was in a pile on the floor, computer pieces and equipment was in a pile on the desk. Stacks of papers were on the dresser next to a stack of snacks. The bed was unmade, with blankets and pillows strewn all over the place.

But, much like the boys, it looked like Katie had just run out. Like she would return any moment.

Colleen packed Katie’s things up quickly, collecting all of her stuff into Katie’s small duffle bag. When all of her stuff was packed (aside from the Garrison-issue uniforms), Colleen got started on making the bed. She pulled up one of the pillows she found Katie’s favorite stuffed animal that she had had since she was little—a green frog by the name of Ribbity. His green fuzz was matted from the years and one of his eyes looked about ready to fall out. Katie would never have left him behind.

Holding her daughter’s favorite childhood toy almost brought tears to her eyes. But she had a job to do and getting emotional now wasn’t part of the plan. She put the plush frog in Katie’s duffle. Colleen had found a Garrison key-card taped to the bottom of Katie’s desk. Ah, so that’s how Katie had been getting in and out of the control center.

She slipped the card in her pocket, slung the duffle over her shoulder and crept out of the room.

It occurred to her she had no idea where to go.

‘ _Okay, if I was a control center, where would I be?_ ’ Colleen thought, weaving her way through the concrete hallways into the depths of the Garrison. It would be in the area with the highest security, so probably in the center. She ducked behind a corner when she heard voices coming towards her. Thankfully the two men passed without noticing her.

She continued on her way. Finally, she spotted what she assumed was the control room—a non-descript door, but with an incredibly high-tech security panel. She swiped the card and entered the six digit code Katie had written on the card. The light on the panel turned green and gave a beep. The doors slid open. The room was small, and covered in computer monitors and screens. Thankfully, there was no one in the control room. She set down the duffle and her purse on the floor and got to work.

Colleen had originally gone to school for computer engineering (that’s how she had met Sam), but she eventually realized that she would be happier teaching, she now taught computer science and physics at the local high school.

‘ _Just like riding a bike_ ,’ she grinned to herself when she got in successfully.

Given that Colleen was now a mom and in her late forties, she had mellowed out quite a bit. But, let’s just say that Katie hadn’t gotten her rebellious streak from Sam.

 She downloaded all of the security footage from the night the kids disappeared. She broke through the encryption on some files marked “Classified” and downloaded those files too.

She froze when she heard the panel of the door beep.

‘ _Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit,’_ she thought. There was nowhere to hide and no time now that that doors were sliding open.

“I thought I might find you in here,” a woman named Amy said. Amy had been good friends with Sam when he worked at the Garrison and had been over to their house for dinner at least six times, “Like mother like daughter.”

“Amy, I’ve lost my entire family. First Sam and Matt and now Katie—Pidge,” Amy’s eyes widened at her slip-up, so Colleen realized that she must not have known about Katie’s ruse, “Are you expecting me just to sit back and do nothing when I know they’re out there somewhere?” I asked.

“I know,” she sighed, “And you’re very lucky that it was me and not someone else.”

“Oh?” I asked, an eyebrow raised. This wasn’t the reaction I had been expecting.

"Listen, Colleen, when you and Katie kept telling me how the Garrison was covering something up about aliens…I thought she was crazy but the night she disappeared something happened,” Amy said.

“What?” Colleen demanded.

“An alien ship crash-landed here. The Garrison tried to convince everyone that it was just some explosive-testing. But I actually _saw_ it,” Amy said, glancing over her shoulder like she was expecting someone to overhear.

“…What?” Colleen asked again, this time more softly.

“There’s more,” she took a deep breath, “I checked the security footage before they had a chance to classify it and…Colleen, Shiro was flying the ship.”

“What?” Colleen asked for a third time, “Shiro? As in the same Shiro that disappeared with my son and husband?”

Amy nodded, “Yeah, and then he disappeared with Katie, Hunk, Lance, and this other student Keith who was kicked out,” Amy said, “And I swear to God I had no idea that Pidge was Katie—I mean I knew she looked like Matt but I thought it was a coincidence. But, you know I love your family. You and Sam are my good friends and you and your kids have always treated me like family. I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now, but I want to help.”

“I’m listening,” I managed to say.

“The ship is still here,” Amy said, “It’s in a warehouse. Come by tonight at midnight, I’ll create a diversion and I’ll let you check it out. Maybe you’ll be able to find something related to your family’s disappearances.”

“I will. Thanks, Amy,” Colleen replied.

“You’re welcome, now you better get out of here before someone else catches you,” Amy said.

Colleen picked up Katie’s duffle and her purse, and the two women left the control room. Unbeknownst to Amy, Colleen already had another plan brewing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading!!!  
> Another chapter will be posted...probably later this week.  
> Leave me some kudos and comments if you liked it!!!  
> Love y'all!!!


	3. Chapter 3

Aliens. Katie had been talking about aliens for the entire semester. And Colleen—while she believed that her husband and son weren’t dead and that their death hadn’t been the accident the Garrison had claimed—still had had a hard time wrapping her head around the idea of aliens.

But now she had confirmed proof from Amy—one of the most skeptical people Colleen had ever met—that not only were aliens real, but that _Shiro_ had crash-landed an alien ship at the Garrison the night Katie died and then disappeared with Katie and the other boys.

That resonated with Colleen, generating an impossible yet somehow undeniable truth in her heart: _  
Her family was in space._

This realization had spurred an almost more terrifying thought:  
        _That she was going to steal that alien ship and find them._

At the moment, that was about the extent of her plan, which, she conceded, wasn’t exactly well thought-out. But it was something.

Katie’s duffle smacked against her side as she walked down the corridors to the parking lot. She opened the front door of the visitor’s center and was immediately hit with the dry, sweltering, heat.

Nani and Aleja were both in the parking lot, loading their son’s things into the respective vehicles.

“Oh there you are Colleen. We looked for you when we finished but we couldn’t find you. Where did you go?” Nani asked kindly, but Colleen thought she detected an edge of suspicion in her voice.

Colleen, who had caught sight of the security camera when she walked in and out of the front door, replied, “I just found an old friend who knew Sam and we got to talking.”

“We were just talking about getting lunch if you want to join us,” Aleja suggested.

Colleen looked at these two women and in that brief second, decided that they deserved to know as much as she did, after all, they had also lost members of their family.

“That sounds great. There’s a really good café on mainstreet,” Colleen suggested, “You guys can follow me.”

Nani and Aleja agreed and followed Colleen to the café. Colleen had briefly considered inviting them to her house, but since she had been living off of cornflakes for the past three days that probably wouldn’t work.

They ordered their food from the front counter and Colleen selected a booth in the back that was secluded enough that she could talk about what she had found without drawing too much attention to them.

“So, the Garrison is lying, right?” Aleja asked when they sat down.

“Absolutely,” Nani and Colleen answered in unison.

“All of the boys’ stuff was exactly where they left it. Like they were planning to come back—at least that’s how it was for Hunk and Lance. Was Pidge’s room like that too?” Nani said.

“Yeah,” Colleen nodded, “Everything was still there. If they were trying to make it look like they ran away, they could have tried a little harder.”

“So you don’t think they ran away either? We were talking about it while we were cleaning up,” Nani said, “Running away isn’t something either of our sons would have done.”

“Pidge either. I mean, we only live nine miles from the Garrison, she would have just come home,” Colleen said, her eyes widening when she realized she had accidentally just outed her daughter.

“ _She_?!” Nani and Aleja exclaimed.

“ _Sonofabitch,”_ Colleen muttered under her breath, “Okay, so the truth is, Pidge is actually my daughter Katie who went undercover at the Garrison to try to uncover what happened to Sam and Matt.”

“Why didn’t she just go as herself?” Aleja asked.

“Because she was banned for life after breaking in multiple times and hacking their system,” Colleen replied.

“You say that way too nonchalantly,” Nani shook her head.

“Well, let’s just say she gets it from me,” Colleen said, pulling the flashdrive out of her purse and sliding it across the table, “By the way I got the security footage and some other classified reports.”

“I _knew_ it,” Nani grinned, “Have you watched it yet?”

“I didn’t get a chance. We can go over to my house and watch it after lunch,” Colleen told them.

The two women nodded.

“I will say though, there is _absolutely_ something they aren’t telling us,” Colleen lowered her voice, “I wasn’t totally lying, I did run into my friend Amy—she caught me snooping. And…something big happened the night they disappeared.”

“What happened?” Aleja and Nani asked.

Colleen shook her head and looked over her shoulder, “I can’t tell you here.”

“You can’t just say that and expect us to sit and talk like it’s nothing,” Aleja exclaimed, “Let’s take the food to-go.”

“Works for me,” Nani shrugged.

“Alright,” Colleen agreed. They went up to the counter and asked for their food to be put into to-go boxes before they followed Colleen to her house.

The three women were immediately greeted by Gunther at the front door.

“Sorry, he gets excited,” Colleen apologized when Gunter covered Nani and Aleja in slobber.

“I don’t mind, I love animals,” Nani said, scratching Gunther behind the ears.

“Yeah…” Aleja lied, wiping the slobber on Gunther’s back, which didn’t so much remove the slobber as it got her hand covered in fur. She wrinkled her nose in distaste, she had never really liked dogs or pets in general—they were too messy and high maintenance.

“So what’s the big secret?” Nani asked, sitting on the living room couch.

“Okay,” Colleen began, “this is going to sound insane, but the night our kids disappeared an alien ship crash-landed at the Garrison.”

“Aliens?” Aleja scoffed.

“I know, _I know_. It sounds crazy even to me. Hold on, let me see if I can find it in the security footage,” Colleen said, pulling out her laptop and inserting her flashdrive into the port. She sifted through the classified files until she found video clips from that night.

“Here,” Colleen said, adjusting the screen so all of them could see it, “These are time-stamped the night they disappeared.”

Colleen pressed play on the video.

“Go back!” Nani and Aleja exclaimed when they came across a shot of an interior courtyard. Colleen had already paused the second they said that because she had seen it too: a blinding light to the right followed by a shudder of the camera, that, if she didn’t know any better, Colleen would have assumed was an earthquake.

She rewound so they could watch it again.

“I can’t tell what it is,” Nani said.

“Can you get a different camera?” Aleja asked.

“Let me try,” Colleen flipped through a few different clips before she found a camera that faced out towards the mesas where that light had come from, “Here.”

“There look!” Aleja pointed at the sky. Something bright barreled towards the earth then crash-landed, shaking the camera the same way the other one had.

“That doesn’t prove it was aliens. It could have been a meteor or something,” Nani said.

“Hold on let me find—oh…my God,” Colleen breathed, pausing the video at an image made her heart drop: Shiro, strapped to an exam table. He didn’t look like the same idealistic boy who had left for Kerberos with her husband and son. The same boy who had politely asked for seconds when they had had him over for dinner. His arm was now metal, there was a thick scar across the center of his face, and the top of his hair was white. This boy was only twenty five—far too young for his hair to discolor like that without having undergone some serious stress.

It occurred to her that he was the last person to have seen her husband and son alive; and the only one who could tell her where they were.

“Is that…Shiro?” Aleja whispered, staring in shock at the frozen video clip. Aleja definitely knew of Shiro, he was Lance’s idol. Lance had been devastated when he had gone missing during the Kerberos mission.

Colleen nodded, “Amy told me he was the one flying the ship.”

“Is there sound?” Nani asked.

“I think so,” Colleen said, unpausing the video and turning up the volume on her computer.

“ **Hey! What are you doing?!** ” Shiro asked.

“ **Calm down, Shiro. We just have to keep you quarantined until we run some tests on you—** ” a man in a hazmat suit said.

“ **You have to listen to me! They destroy worlds! Aliens are coming!** ” Shiro argued.

The three women exchanged a nervous glance.

“ **Do you know how long you’ve been gone?** ” a hazmat-ed man asked.

“ **I don’t know. Months? Years? Look there’s no time! Aliens are coming here for a weapon! They’re probably on their way! They’ll destroy us! We have to find Voltron!** ” Shiro tried to explain.

“Voltron? What is Voltron?” Aleja asked.

“I don’t know. But Katie told me she had been getting that same name over her equipment in the days before they disappeared—even that night,” Colleen said.

“ **Take a look at this. It appears his arm has been replaced with a cyborg prosthetic,** ” another hazmat technician said.

“ **Put him under until we know what that thing can do!** ” another voice, one she recognized as the director of the Garrison said.

“ **No! No! Don’t put me under! No! No! there’s no time!** ” Shiro protested, struggling against his restraints.

Despite Shiro’s struggling, the technician inserted the needle and Shiro’s body relaxed. Suddenly there was a series of loud explosions coming from what Colleen assumed was outside.

“ **I’ll go check it out,** ” The director announced, “ **Keep getting those readings.** ”

Seconds after the director left, a boy in a red jacket with a bandana over his mouth stormed in, and knocked out the remaining technicians. He cut Shiro free.

“That must be Keith. Lance talks about him a lot. I’d know that mullet anywhere,” Aleja said, “But what is he doing here? He flunked out.”

“I don’t know. Amy said he helped—” Colleen didn’t finish her sentence because their children stormed in the makeshift quarantine tent seconds later. Her words caught in her throat just seeing Katie.

“ **Nope! Nope. No no no no no. No you don’t, I’m saving Shiro,** ” Lance said supporting Shiro’s other shoulder. Aleja had covered her mouth with her hands the second her son had walked into the frame.

“ **Who are you?** ” Keith asked.

“ **Who am I? The name’s Lance,** ” Lance paused, “ **We were in the same class at the Garrison.** ”

“ **Really? Are you an engineer?** ” Keith asked.

“ **No, I’m a pilot! We were like rivals. You know Lance and Keith neck and neck,** ” Lance said. Aleja had tears in her eyes, knowing that this was likely the last recording of her son, but she also couldn’t help but stifle a chuckle at her son’s banter. That was so like him, always so lighthearted even in situations where he really shouldn’t be.

“ **Oh wait I remember you. You’re a cargo pilot,** ” Keith said.

“ **Well not any more. I’m fighter class now thanks to you washing out** ,” Lance replied.

“ **Well, congratulations** ,” Keith remarked. Before the five of them exited the tent.

“That’s all the video feed I have on them,” Colleen said, wiping away a stray tear. Aleja was full-on bawling by now, and Nani had her arms wrapped around Aleja’s shoulders in comfort, “Let me see if there’s a report on what happened.”

Colleen searched through some documents, “It says here that they chased them through the desert before losing them when they flew off a cliff.”

“Off a cliff!!!!” Aleja exclaimed.

“Apparently they were in some kind of hovercraft thing, so they were okay,” Colleen assured her.

“You should have started with that,” Aleja replied.

“So what now? Where are our kids?!” Nani demanded.

“I don’t know for sure,” Colleen began, “But hear me out, what if...what if they’re in space.”

“In space?” Aleja and Nani replied skeptically.

“Are you saying they got abducted by aliens?” Nani asked.

“Maybe. Maybe the same aliens who had Shiro came back to get him and our kids got captured or maybe they found that Voltron thing that Shiro was talking about—maybe it’s some kind of ship with weapons. Whatever the case, I can’t shake the feeling that our kids are not on earth anymore,” Colleen explained.

“It is crazy but I think you're right. I’ve had this weird feeling since Lance disappeared, that he’s not dead but that I’m not going to be able to find him and if he’s in space that would make sense,” Aleja said, her eyes once again filling with tears, “Ay por dios!! I’m never going to see him again!”

“Hey, don’t give up yet. I have a plan,” Colleen said, taking Aleja’s hand.

“What kind of plan?” Nani asked skeptically.

“Amy told me that the ship Shiro crashed is still there. She said that at midnight tonight she would create a diversion so we could sneak in go check it out,” Colleen began.

“How does that help us find our kids?” Nani asked.

“Because we’re going to steal it,” Colleen said, dead serious.

“Steal a space ship? And then what? Fly it into space? And somehow find our children in the vast expanses of the universe?” Nani exclaimed.

“At the moment that is basically my plan,” Colleen replied.

“You’re out of your mind,” Nani decided.

“Probably. Losing one’s entire family to space aliens tends to do that,” Colleen remarked, “Listen, I know it’s insane, alright? But what choice do we have if we want to find them? I understand if you guys don’t want to go. I mean, I can’t promise we’ll find them. I can’t promise this will work. I can’t promise we won’t get caught and spend the rest of our lives in prison. I can’t promise we won’t _die._ But I _have_ to find my family, and, at this point, I have nothing left to lose.”

“Neither do I. Lance is all I have in the world. I’m going,” Aleja announced.

“Do you even know how to fly a ship—an alien ship?” Nani demanded.

That was the part of the plan Colleen hadn’t completely worked through; she said nothing.

“That’s a ‘no,’” Nani said, “Listen, I want them back as much as you guys do. Hunk is my baby. He’s the only child I have left at home, but this is crazy, we can’t just break into a government base, steal a ship, and fly into space.”

“I’m still going to try. I can’t just give up until I’ve tried everything in my power to get my family back,” Colleen told her, “You don’t have to come—either of you. But I’m doing this no matter what.”

“I’m still going,” Aleja stated and she and Colleen looked at Nani expectantly.

“I’m sorry. I can’t do this,” Nani shook her head.

“I understand,” Colleen sighed.

“I hope you find them,” Nani told her sincerely before getting up to leave.

The front door closed behind her with a dull thud. Aleja and Colleen looked at each other, fully aware that they now had less than nine hours to get everything ready.

Nani walked to her car, opened the door and sat in the front seat.

“I can’t. I _can’t_!” she told herself, “At _best_ we get caught. At worst, we _die_.”

But then she thought about going home to her empty house. Sure she had three daughters, sure she had five grandchildren, but they all lived far away. They rarely called, they almost never visited. All of those new recipes she had made for Hunk to try when he came home for Christmas, they didn’t matter now. The thought of never hearing his laugh again—the same laugh as his father’s—broke her heart.

It occurred to her that she hadn’t started the car. In the thirty seconds she had been in there, the heat was already becoming unbearable meaning that she had to make a decision to do one of two things: the logical choice—leaving, getting on a plane, flying home, trying to plan more trips to see her daughters and grandchildren, or the incredibly stupid option—join their quest, steal a ship, and try to find Hunk or die trying.

“Fine. I’m coming,” Nani announced when she swung the front door open, “Someone has to be the voice of reason on this suicide mission. Plus, if aliens invade the earth it won’t matter if I died in a crash because we’ll be screwed regardless.”

“That’s the spirit!” Colleen grinned, “Now let’s get to work, we have a lot to do before we leave tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I recognize that the council has made a decision, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision, I have elected to ignore it," -Nick Fury, and also me after the Voltron panel debunked a few pieces from this fanfic. 
> 
> Anyway, thank y'all so much for reading!!! I'm going to try to make Fridays my posting day so be on the lookout for new chapters every Friday!! Hit me up with some kudos and comments if you liked it!!
> 
> Love y'all!!!


	4. Chapter 4

In those nine hours, mothers got shit done.

Bags were packed. Collen had told them to pack only what they could carry without being weighed down. Aleja was the only one who seemed to have a problem with this—she hated the idea of giving up her bag of shoes along with most of her cosmetics.

Groceries were bought. They knew they wouldn’t necessarily be able to find food and water in space, so they accounted for that. Nani had also made a delicious, large, meal and dessert for them at 8pm so they could save their food as long as humanly possible.

Flights were cancelled and rental cars were returned.

Money was withdrawn. They didn’t know if aliens would accept American currency, but each woman withdrew as much as she could without drawing suspicion.

Jobs were suspended until further notice. Nobody mentioned the possibility that those jobs could be suspended forever.

Naps were taken. They had to somehow fly a spaceship out of earth’s atmosphere at midnight. Colleen wanted to make damn-sure they were all well-rested.

Voicemails were changed: “Hi you’ve reached Colleen/Nani/Aleja. I’m going to be unreachable, perhaps for a long time because I’m going on an expedition to find my family/my son. Leave a message at the beep and I’ll get back to you if I can.”

Nani had called her daughters and grandchildren and explained _some_ of what was going on. She told them that she had gotten a lead on where Hunk could be and that she was leaving with Colleen and Aleja to check it out. She also explained that she would be in the middle of nowhere and that they would not be able to contact her and vice-versa for a while.

Colleen had helped Nani queue a pre-recorded message in her email explaining _everything_ (stolen clips from the Garrison included). If for whatever reason they didn’t return in six months, the email would automatically send to each of Nani’s three daughters. Nani felt they deserved to know.

Colleen, Aleja, and Nani had all tried to study flying from the Garrison textbooks they had taken from their children’s dorms. Of course, reading about flying a Garrison ship was nothing like flying an actual alien ship, but they supposed it was better than nothing.

When Sam had first started working at the Garrison, Colleen had gotten the opportunity to use the flight simulator. She had put in over 300 hours, which is why Nani and Aleja had elected her as the designated pilot. Colleen didn’t mention that the last time she had used that simulator was four years ago and that she hadn’t ever flown an actual ship. But still, she hoped it would be better than nothing.

Colleen had concocted a vague idea for a plan-B if shit hit the fan, but she was hoping it wouldn’t get to that point.

At 11pm they were all waiting anxiously, not speaking, with nothing to do but wait and watch re-runs of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. on TV—the show had been off the air for 40 years but they still played the reruns often.

Every few seconds one of them would look at the clock. Nani kept biting at her nails, Aleja couldn’t stop tapping her foot, Colleen had such a tight grip on the arms of her chair that she was sure her fingernails were going to puncture the leather.

They couldn’t leave yet. They couldn’t risk getting there too early, getting caught, and screwing up the whole plan. And, while they all knew that, it didn’t make the waiting any easier.

They left at 11:30. Colleen put Gunther’s leash on and he easily hopped up into the backseat of the car.

“Why are we bringing the dog?” Aleja asked.

“It’s not like I can leave him. He would die,” Colleen replied.

“Right…” Aleja said, riding shotgun to avoid having to sit with Gunther in the back, “I just don’t know how we’re going to take care of a dog in space.”

“Well, I don’t really either but I still can’t leave him,” Colleen said, opening the driver’s side door and climbing into the car.

Colleen knew that even if she could find someone to take Gunther for an unknown amount of time—potentially forever; he would be heartbroken. He would feel like they abandoned him. She just couldn’t imagine looking into his big brown eyes and telling him goodbye, the thought broke her heart.

She had packed enough dogfood for a few weeks, so the biggest issue, at least at first, would be finding a place for him to go potty.

They drove to the Garrison in near silence aside from Gunther’s excited panting. He turned circles on the carpeted back floor, occasionally smacking Nani with his tail.

When they turned down the road that led to the Garrison, Colleen turned off her headlights. The only light came from the gibbous moon and the stars. She pulled off the road, driving down a hill that made her car almost invisible from the street.

In silence they unloaded the car, shouldering their backpacks and bags. Colleen had already thought to tape Gunther’s dog tags together so that they wouldn’t jingle when he walked.

Nani pried and kicked at the base of the chain-link fence trying to find a loose spot where it would be easy to pull it back from the ground.

“Here,” she announced in a low whisper.

Using a pair of wire-cutters Colleen cut a straight line up and they pried it up from the ground, folding it over enough for all of them (and Gunter) to squeeze underneath. 

Silently they made their way across the Garrison property. As they got closer to the warehouse she could hear voices. Colleen checked her watch, it was 11:59 which meant that their distraction would be happing in 5…4…3…2…1. Right on cue alarms sounded on the opposite side of the Garrison and six men ran out of the warehouse and towards the sound.

“Let’s go,” Colleen mouthed and the three of them (plus Gunther) darted around the corner and into the warehouse.

“I kind of thought it would be bigger,” Nani muttered.

‘ _Me too,_ ’ Colleen thought.

The ship was only a little bigger than a school bus--barely bigger than the Garrison scouting ships and not half as big as a Garrison cargo ship. It would certainly be tight quarters.  

“How do we get in?” Aleja asked.

“Uh…” Colleen said, studying the ship. Quite frankly, she had no idea.

Suddenly the side panel of the ship came open. The three women took a fighting stance—the best that three women and a dog loaded down with luggage can take a fighting stance.

“Relax, it’s me,” came Amy’s voice from inside the ship.

“Oh thank God,” Colleen exhaled.

“Colleen, what the hell is all of this. I invited _you_ to come check out the ship and you bring two other people, a dog and  _luggage?_ What the hell going on?” Amy demanded.

“We’re taking this ship. I’m sorry Amy, but we have to find our kids,” Colleen replied, motioning for Aleja and Nani to continue entering the ship.

“ _What_? Are you out of your fucking mind? I stuck my neck out for you just to get you in here and you’re doing this shit to me? No, don’t go in there!!” Amy exclaimed blocking Aleja and Nani, “Listen, ladies, I’m so sorry that your kids are missing but—”

“But what, Amy? The kid who crashed this ship is probably the last person to have actually seen Sam and Matt alive, then he left with my daughter and both of their sons. We _deserve_ to know what’s happened to our children,” Colleen argued, “We deserve to know where they are and we all strongly feel that they aren’t on Earth anymore.”

“You can’t just—” but Amy didn’t get to finish her sentence because a guard walked in.

“What the fuck?!” he shouted, “You’re not supposed to be in here!”

He unclipped a radio from his belt and said, “Attention all units we have intruders in the aircraft warehouse,” he ran off, presumably to gather backup.

“I guess that’s our cue,” Nani declared, pushing passed Amy as she and Aleja hurried up the ramp onto the ship.

“I can’t let you do this. I’ll lose my job,” Amy told Colleen.

“Amy…please?” Colleen begged.

“No. I’ll get fired, I might get _arrested_ ,” Amy exclaimed.

“Then come with us,” Colleen suggested. Incidentally, _this_ , was plan-B.

“ _Excuse_ me?” Amy asked sounding absolutely appalled.

“Amy, this is an alien ship. An alien ship that the Garrison tried to _hide,_ from you, from the rest of the world. It's a confirmation of what you've been searching for your _entire_ life and they tried to cover it up. This is so much more important than taking ice samples from Kerberos. Look at this thing! Think of all the technological advancements they have. Think about how much we can learn from them. Think about all of the knowledge you’ll be able to bring back to Earth. If we survive this, _you_ might be able to become the director of the Garrison," Colleen insisted. Amy said nothing but Colleen could tell she was thinking about it, "Listen, Amy, you once told me that you wanted to do Sam’s job instead of being stuck behind a desk. Well, here’s your chance!”  

“And anyway that guy already saw you so there’s a good chance you’ll either get fired or arrested anyway, especially if they find out you caused that diversion.  Come with us,” Colleen added after another painfully quiet second.

By now Colleen could hear the rumble of the Garrison all-terrain vehicles and more voices approaching.

“Okay, let’s do this," Amy declared finally, "Go get five of those spacesuits. And hurry!!" 

Colleen breathed a sigh of relief--Amy really was a much better pilot than she was.

She grabbed five suits of various sizes, and turned and ran back towards the ship, her arms loaded down with bulky suits. She stepped onto the base of the ramp just as fifty Garrison guards ran into the warehouse.

‘ _Shit, shit, shit, shit!’_ she thought, still running. Amy began to close the ramp with Colleen still on it and Colleen slid the rest of the way into the ship.

“Everybody strap in—Gunther included!!” Amy announced, “Colleen I need you up here as my co-pilot.”

Here’s the thing, there were only two seats in the ship, so Aleja, Nani, and Gunter had to make do with what there was.

“Okay, I’m going to be honest, I’ve never flown an alien ship, so bear with me,” Amy continued, flipping seemingly random switches.

Suddenly the engine of the ship roared to life beneath them and began lifting off the ground…albeit a bit unsteadily.

Outside a piercing alarm sounded.

“What the hell is that?” Nani asked.

“It’s…um…nothing, that just means they’re closing the hanger door. Don’t worry, I can do this!! Everybody hang on, this is probably going to be a bumpy ride,” Amy assured them, though she didn’t exactly sound confident herself.

She pressed a button and the ship took off. Amy let out a small yelp (that was nearly drowned out by the rest of their screaming) when she rotated the ship at an almost ninety-degree angle and narrowly squeaked through the hanger doors.

“Um…Amy, they’re still gaining on us!!” Colleen reminded her.

As if to accentuate her point they heard, “Pull over the alien spacecraft,” in the director’s voice over the loudspeaker.

“I know! I know! Let’s try this!” Amy pressed a button on the dashboard and the ship stopped altogether and began to fall, “Nope. Nope. Nope. Hold on I’ve got this!!”

Aleja and Nani exchanged a worried look.

“ _Do you_? Do you _really_?” Aleja asked.

Amy ignored her and pressed another button that forced them all backwards when the ship took off at exceptional speeds. The Garrison definitely wouldn’t be able to catch them now, but they had a new problem. The sheer cliff of the mesa was approaching _fast._

“How do we go up?!!!” Colleen demanded. She estimated they had about fifteen seconds until impact.

“I’m still trying to figure that out!” Amy exclaimed, frantically pressing buttons and pulling levers.

“Can we at least slow down!?!?! Can we turn around?! Can we _stop?!?!_ Press the button you pressed earlier!!!” Nani shrieked.

“I’m _trying!”_ Amy said.

 “What’s this?” Colleen pressed another button. Suddenly a glowing circular portal-looking thing opened up in front of them, “Is that a wormhole?”

“I don’t know! It sure looks like it—or at least it looks like how I always imagined a wormhole would look! Should we try it?!” Amy asked.

“Do we have a _choice?!_ ” Colleen shouted. The mesa went on for miles in either direction and at this point, Colleen wasn’t even sure Amy could turn it around. Granted, going to other way was exactly ideal either, not with the Garrison still trying to capture them.

“Okay, everybody hold on!” Amy exclaimed and they plunged into the wormhole.

“We’re gonna die! We’re gonna die!!” Nani had been repeating this mantra since they had taken off and she had only increased in volume. She had one arm wrapped around Gunther and the other clutching the wall of the ship for dear life.

Aleja was on her third “Hail Mary,” sitting criss-cross on the floor with her arms and legs around a vertical support column and her hands folded in prayer.

Colleen was beginning to regret her third helping of mashed potatoes at dinner as the taste of bile rose in her throat.

And Amy, Amy was laughing her fucking ass off and hollering like a drunk redneck at a lake, “This is amazing!!!! A real wormhole!!! We’re in a wormhole!!”

In seconds they were through to the other side. Now that they weren’t in immediate danger, Amy took a few seconds to figure out how to stop the ship.

They all caught their breath as the ship slowed to a stop. Colleen was surprised that, unlike the Garrison ships, this ship seemed to have some kind of gravity stabilizer that prevented them from floating around. She was thankful for that.

“Okay…where the hell are we?” Nani asked when they all managed to catch their breath.

“I don’t know. I don’t recognize any of these stars or planets,” Amy replied, the high wearing off and the realization setting in, “Is everyone alright?” 

“That depends on your definition of alright,” Nani pointed out, “is anyone hurt? No. Are we lost somewhere on the other side of the universe and fugitives on Earth? Yeah.”

“No need to panic,” Colleen said. At least, she told herself, there was no reason to panic _yet._ They were in no immediate danger for the time being. 

“No need to panic?! I’d say being stranded billions of lightyears from home is a _very_ good reason to panic,” Nani exclaimed.

“Ladies, stop arguing. That won’t help us now,” Amy said, “There’s only two cots so we’ll have to take turns sleeping on them. The ship has supply of water—plus what you ladies brought—so that should hold us for a while. We’re good on power…I think…we haven’t exactly figured out how the power system works yet. The bathroom works. We’ll be okay.”

“Until we run out of food and power,” Nani remarked.

Colleen ignored her and said, “These seats recline so we can actually all sleep at once. Let’s all get ready for bed and get some sleep. We can regroup tomorrow morning and make a plan.”

She knew they would all be exhausted now that the wave of adrenaline had worn off.

To her surprise, no one argued. She shut off the power so they were just floating listlessly in space. Thankfully, the cabin of the ship seemed to have a self-regulating temperature system and was well-insulated so they would be protected from the frigid cold of the surrounding vacuum.

She changed into her pajamas and brushed her teeth.

“Gunther, you want to go potty?” she asked the dog.

“Um…exactly how are you going to do that, Colleen?” Amy asked.

“Well…I’m going to take him in the back airlock, let him do his business, and you know…just send it into space,” Colleen explained.

Aleja wrinkled her nose.

“I’ll clean it. Calm down,” Colleen said, grabbing what she assumed was the alien equivalent of a mop.

In the bathroom she found a green bottle of cleaner, opened it up and was pleasantly surprised to find it was bleach. She supposed that calcium hypochlorite was made of elements that could theoretically be found all over the universe. She just found it funny that with all this technology, bleach is still regarded as a dependable cleaner across all galaxies. Grabbing a bucket, she diluted the bleach it with some water, before taking both the mop and the bucket with her.

“Come on Gunthy let’s go potty,” Colleen told him in a cheerful voice. The airlock was smaller than she was expecting—about three-feet by three-feet, so she had to stand pressed against the wall to give him enough room.

Besides the size, the other problem was that Gunther had only ever been trained to go potty outside and seemed to be very confused.

“It’s okay buddy. I know it’s weird. I’m giving you permission. You can do it. Go potty,” Colleen told him. It was colder in the airlock and she was freezing in her pajamas and bare feet.

It took about ten minutes but Gunther finally went potty.

“Good boy,” Colleen told him, opening the door to the main compartment and letting him back inside and grabbing the mop, bucket, and a plastic baggie that she had brought.

She picked up the poop in the plastic bag and poured the bleach/water mixture on the floor. The mop, she realized (when she accidentally pressed a button) on the handle, could spin, which accidentally flung bleach/piss/water all over her bare legs.

“Nice,” she remarked to herself with a sigh.

When she was satisfied with her cleaning job, she dropped the poop bag on the floor, grabbed the mop and bucket, exited the airlock and pressed the button that opened the exterior door. The bag along with the remaining beads of liquid floated up and out of the ship.

She closed the exterior airlock door.

By now all the lights had been turned down and she could hear Nani’s snoring from the bunk-room--which wasn't so much a room as a bunk-bed and a curtain.

Colleen sat in her chair, reclined it, and pulled her legs next to her in the chair and Amy did the same in her own chair. Gunther curled up on the floor near Colleen.

Tomorrow they’d figure this out.

Tonight Colleen rested easily. Because, despite the circumstances, one thought kept playing through her mind:  
              _She was one step closer to finding her family._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all!! Happy Friday!!!
> 
> Thanks so much for reading and for commenting!! (Just so you know I read ever single one of your comments and then tend to gush about them to whoever happens to be sitting next to me--usually my mom--and they make me so incredibly happy!!)
> 
> Love y'all!!!
> 
> (PS my username is the same as my tumblr username except with dashes instead of underscores)


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